ADULTS who rape children could be left off a list barring them from working with youngsters, under Tory plans to water down vetting rules.

They claim they are scaling back the current system to “common sense levels”, but charities and MPs say it creates dangerous loopholes which put the rights of sex offenders ahead of protecting children.

The existing rules were introduced in 2006 after 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were murdered by school caretaker Ian Huntley.

But changes outlined in the Tory-led ­coalition’s Protection of Freedoms Bill mean only offenders who have worked with children in the past, or are likely to in the future, would automatically go on the barred list.

At the same time the list of jobs which convicted sexual offenders are banned from will be scaled back dramatically.

The NSPCC said under the new system a sexual offender could get a job as a classroom assistant or a youth sports coach without anyone knowing about their crimes.

Labour Shadow Home Office Minister Diana Johnson said the government was “obsessed with cutting the number on the barred list” and this was taking precedence over “preventing dangerous paedophiles having contact with children”.

She added: “The rights of sex offenders seem to have been given greater importance than protecting children.

“I hope the Prime Minister will look again at the concerns of parents and groups who work with children and not weaken the protection introduced after the Ian Huntley murders.”

In a letter to the PM Ms Johnson said: “A lorry driver convicted of raping a child would, under your proposals, only be included if ‘the person is or has been or might in the future be, engaged in regulated activity relating to children’.” Experts say it is a dangerous loophole and that adults convicted of a sexual offence should continue to be automatically placed on the barring list. The NSPCC described the proposals as “highly concerning”.

An online survey by charity Fairplay for Children found 96.6% of the public thought adults convicted of offences against children should be placed on the list as soon as they are convicted.

Ms Johnson pursued Mr Cameron on the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions last week, telling him that “parents up and down the land will be horrified” by the proposals.

The PM said: “What we have done in terms of vetting and barring is remove a huge number of people who are not a risk to children, but we do want to make sure that the system works well so that anyone who has criminal convictions is barred.”

The system of CRB checks, which flag up convictions, will remain in place.